Using FD lenses on EOS body by adapters

<p>I wonder if anyone could kindly help me with a suggestion about FD-EOS adapter. I recently bought an adapter that has no optics in the middle, it's just a ring. Now, I've found this working only with FD 200mm f2, while some other lenses (FD 85mm 1.2L, FD 20-35 f3.5L and FD 17mm f4) I have tried don't work with it at all. FYI, I have had tried them on 40D and 60D. Using this adapter I can only see an unfocused view and it doesn't change in any point of the focusing ring's position. Can anybody please suggest if it's happening because my adapter doesn't have the correction glass in it? Would it help focusing if it had the optics in it? In other words, does anybody have experience of properly focusing with any of these lenses on an EOS body? If yes, which brand of adapter works best? </p>

<p>This has been beaten to death in the past so search the archives. In general: glassless adapters will not let you focus to infinity, glass/lenses containing adapters are generally of poor quality. The one exception is the original Canon adapter with lenses: it is expensive, even 2nd hand and it works with some teles only.</p>

<p>The glassless adapter acts like a short extension tube; without optics it has no other effect on the image. I recently picked up one of the same adapters so I could use my FD 100mm Macro on my 5D. Since I can't seem to find the macro lens, I tried the FD 17mm, FD 85mm f/1.2L, and FD 80-200 f/4L. With the long zoom I could focus to maybe 15 feet out, but no further. The 17 and 85 would not focus on anything; I suspect I simply could not get physically close enough to anything to achieve focus. This is understandable with the 17, though my lack of success with the 85 is a little disconcerting, and I'm beginning to wonder if I'll succeed with the 100 Macro.</p>

<p>Please refer to the many lens to film plane registration distance charts found on the internet. The drill is if the registration of the lens is greater than the registration of the camera you want to use with that lens then an adapter allowing infinity focus on down to closer focus is most likely available. Otherwise to get infinity on a lens that has a shorter registration than the camera will not be possible.</p>

There is only one glass less adapter that works and this is limited to a few lenses. The problem is that the flange distance

is longer for EOS than it is for FD (44mm vs 42mm). Thus for an FD lens to focus at infinity the adapter needs to be

negative 2mm thick - clearly an impossibility. This is why the adapters have a glass element and except for the Canon

One are not worth buying as the quality is terrible.

 

The one exception is the Ed Mika adapter which is less than 1mm thick. It still prevents infinity focus with most lenses

(my 85 F1.2 will focus to about 8 feet) but is better with longer lenses. It is really of use with the long L series lenses.

Here it will focus at infinity (it is close with the 300 F2.8). The way it does this is that these lenses were designed to focus

past infinity to allow for thermal effects etc...

 

You will find plenty more on this topic if you search

<p>If you want to change mounts, the Ed Mika mount conversions are the best. Only for a few lenses though.<br>

http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=9593.0<br>

These provide infinity focus and do not use a correction glass, thus you get full quality out of the lenses.</p>

<p>I was recently playing around with an FD 24mm and my EOS DSLR using an FD-EOS adapter with glass removed. I had to get practically right on top of the subject with the 24mm, so I suspect that the 17 just requires that you're practically touching the lens surface for focus. As for the 85mm, Fred, might it be that, because of the lens's razor thin depth of field, you're just missing focus?</p>

 

<p>You're right, Michael. Using a tape measure outdoors I was able to focus the 85 between 12 to 21 inches, and depth of field at f/1.2 was just under an inch.</p>

<p>I have to add that this particular adapter ring has to be put on just right to enable stopping down of the aperture. It goes on wrong very easily, and takes a bit of fiddling.</p>

<p>The long and the short of it is: FORGET IT! None of the available FD-EOS adapters - with or without a correcting glass element - works in a way that could be described as satisfactory. Even the Ed Mika stuff is pretty useless for everyday use. Go to M42 or Zeiss with C/Y mount if you want to adapt in a simple way, but if you ask me -after experiencing a lot of adapters - it is not worth the effort!</p>

<p>I'm curious, Thomas, how thoroughly have you researched this subject? Can you provide some actual data to back up your pronouncements? Or would you just rather we drop this discussion as fruitless . . . because you say it is.</p>

<p>Personally, I can't help but wonder why somebody doesn't release an adapter with excellent correction. People would pay good money for one if it worked. There's nothing impossible about the concept. And the diameter of the corrective element(s) is not an issue, either. If you have a 1.4x TC, take a look at it -- its element diameters are the same as one of these adapters. Yet there are some excellent 1.4x TCs out there.</p>

<p>Given that any of these FD-EOS adapters with corrective glass are actually mild TCs -- usually somewhere between 1.2x and 1.25x -- why not extend things a bit further, say to 1.4x? Then what you do is you take a good quality 1.4x TC in FD or FL mount, convert it to EOS mount on the camera side, and there you are. You now have an adapter that will work well. No more uncontrollable flare, and essentially no image degradation. My experience with good quality TCs is they actually do not degrade the image. This is what I plan to do. Currently I have only one FD-mount 1.4x TC, a Canon 1.4x-A, and I don't want to sacrifice it for the conversion. I continue to search for another. Komura made one, so did Kiron, both of which are supposed to be good, but which are also uncommon.</p>

 

<p>Michael, I don't know where your interest lie in this field (sounds somehow as if you were going to sell adapters, but I don't know), I can only say, I have thoroughly tried FD-EF adapters and was never satisfied so that in the end I have dropped the subjects, having enough decent EF-lenses tow ork with.<br>

I'd like to post some sample images, but I just found out that I deleted them from my hard disk drive because I was so dissatisfied that I saw no point in keeping them. The problem was/is that the achievement of the adapters was different with different lenses and at different f-stops which is inacceptable if you want to have predictable results.<br>

Therefore, for me, the discussion is now fruitless.</p>

<p>I have no interest in selling adapters. Only in using them, thus putting my largish collection of FD and FL glass to good use, once more.</p>

<p>I own two FD-EOS adapters, a Bower and a Fotodiox. I paid about $35 for the Bower off eBay, and later ordered the Fotodiox direct, paying about $10 more for it. Here is what I've determined, and I can back things up with photos, but admittedly, I will have to dig some to find them.</p>

<p>The first thing I noticed about the Bower was, if I shot with a reasonably fast lens at larger apertures, it generated a great deal of a blooming sort of flair. The faster and wider open the lens, the worse it was. But by about f/3.5 or so, the flare had disappeared, and the quality of the photos was quite good.</p>

<p>I bought the Fotodiox because they seemed to be indicating at their website that they'd licked the blooming flare problem. What I found was that flare was noticeably better controlled, but it was still there and it was bad enough such that I could not use any of my fast lenses wide open. Again, with the Fotodiox, once I'd stopped the lenses down to about f/3.5 or so, the flare had disappeared and the images were quite good.</p>

<p>I have several fast FD lenses: f/1.2s, f/1.4s, f/1.8s, an f/1.9 . . . none of which can be used at fast apertures with these cheapo FD-EOS adapters. And even the f/2.8 lenses I own show some flare, so even they can't be used wide open. This is the main problem I have with these adapters. They <em>can</em> produce sharp images, it's just that, because of their flare problems, they <em>can't</em> be used the way I want to use them.</p>

<p>Both of the adapters have removable glass, which can be useful for macro work. I have taken some fantastic macro images with my 50mm f/1.4 SSC at f/1.4 and with my 85mm f/1.2 SSC Aspherical at f/1.2. Some long teles have focusing collars which can be rotated past infinity, and can be pretty useful with the adapters without the corrective lenses. For example, I used to own (until it got stolen last October) a Canon FD 400mm f/4.5 IF, which had a focusing collar that rotated about 5/8" past infinity. With the glassless adapter, the lens would focus out to about 30 meters, which I found to be very useful for bird watching. Just the right focal length for that sort of activity, and often I could easily get within 30 meters of the birds I wanted to photograph.</p>

<p>So for me, it's been a mixed bag. Frustrating in some ways, rewarding in others. But I'm tired of waiting for a better quality adapter, which is why I'm actively searching for a good 1.4x. My Canon 1.4x-A has a protruding element, which pretty much restricts its use to tele lenses that have room at the mount for this protrusion. That's too limiting for me, which is why I'm trying to find a "regular" 1.4x. Anymore these days, they are thin on the ground.</p>

 

Thomas the Ed Mika adapters work well on the long L series lenses. That said without AF the ability to focus on EOS

bodies is quite hard - it is better to use the EF lenses. Alternatively I have had better look with Mamiy MF lenses, Contax

and Leica lenses on EOS bodies. Indeed the Mamiya 500 F5.6 is quite a revelation - it is a very sharp lens on an EOS

body, only a stop slower than the very expensive Canon lens and can be picked up for $300 to $400 used

<p>Another vote for the EdMika adapter (O.5 mm) and his replacement EF mounts which I have on a FL 55/1.2 and a FDn 400/4.5. I use his 0.5mm adapter on a EF 500/8 mirror and almost, but not quite reach infinity. It is good to about 150 yards, give or take. Alternately, the FDn 400/4.5 with the EdMika replacement mount focusses well beyond infinity, as it does with the native FDn mount.</p>

<p>I'm very fond of both the FL 55/1.2 and FDn 400/4.5 and it was a frustration that they couldn't be used on an EF mount body. The EdMika replacement mounts brought new life to these lenses.</p>

<p>Tom, I don't know on the Ed Mika stuff. The adapter, probably not worth the PITA factor, but his converters are supposed to give full infinity focusing, and not mess up the camera's electronics. They are only available for a very few lenses, but those are the expensive big glass lenses. I might try one if I ever get a digital SLR.</p>

<p>I do have the Canon Lens Mount Converter FD-EOS (the 1.2x tele-converter) and several lenses that can use it, just in case. If I ever do get one (a digital SLR) then I can make do with a wide-normal zoom, an Ed Mika converted lens (probably an FL 55mm F1.2, because it has that A-M ring) for available light and my FD long lenses for distances. I've seen the Canon FD-EOS Macro converter, but I don't see a use for it, except for maybe using it with the FD 100mm or 200mm Macro lenses.</p>

<p>Hello Syed,<br /><br />I just joined this forum and I can definitely help you solve this dilemma. There is a way to use all your old FD glass on a new Canon digital body with an inexpensive adapter <strong>without</strong> glass elements, and <strong>maintain infinity focus </strong>without any lens modifications.<br /><br />It's called the Canon EOS M. The EOS M is a mirrorless Canon camera with the same 18mp sensor as the 7D, 60D, T2i, T3i, T4i, etc., but it has a shorter flange distance. It takes the new EF-M lenses (and EF lenses with an adapter) but it also can be easily adapted to FD, Nikon, Contax, Leica and many other legacy lenses.<br /><br />The EOS M is an APS-C 1.6x crop sensor camera so you won't get the full frame use out of your FD lenses, however I see that you are using the 40D and 60D now, so I assume this isn't a problem for you. A new EOS M body can be had for under $500 (less for used.) That's not a bad entry price for getting to use all your FD glass again.<br /><br />There are even better options. The Sony NEX-7 is a high-end 24mp mirrorless camera with higher dynamic range and better low light capabilities than the EOS M. The NEX-7 will set you back close to $1000 but its little brother the 16mp NEX-5 costs about the same as the Canon EOS M and the NEX-6 is about $750. Inexpensive FD to Sony NEX adapters are available on eBay. There is even a <strong>Focal Reducer Speed Booster for Canon FD mount lens to Sony NEX Adapter</strong> with optics that will actually restore full frame performance by reducing the full frame image circle to the APS-C size and amazingly <strong>increases your light aperture by one stop</strong>! ($166, eBay)<br /><br />Other mirrorless cameras such as the Micro Four Thirds bodies from Panasonic (GH2/GH3) and Olympus (OM-D E-M5) will easily adapt to your FD lens as well, however the crop factor is 2x, effectively doubleing your focal length -- great for tele's but a drawback for your wide lenses. However the Olympus OM-D E-M5 will actually <strong>add 5-axis image stabilization to your FD lenses</strong>! Video enthusiasts have been adapting FD lenses to M4/3 cameras for years.<br /><br /><br>

This is exciting stuff. Good luck, let me know what you think! - Dave</p><div></div>

<p>I guess I have to be the odd man out here and disagree. I picked up an Albinar correction glass EOS/FD adapter in Hong Kong along with a 200mm FD f4 lens for less then $100 in September. Used this lens with my Canon 70D and got sharp photos from about 6 feet to infinity. The adapter impressed me so much that I recently bought a Carl Zeiss Jena 80mm 2.8 with a FD mount and that lens is also sharp with this adapter to infinity.I did not notice any abnornal flare or CA. Anyone else use this adapter</p>

Better late than never to add my 2 cents here ... I frequently use an FD to EOS adapter - there appears to be no brand name - only the word Canon in block letters which probably means it was made for Canon FD's and NOT by Canon ... Gives 'creative' soft focus effects at low apertures and passable sharpness at f11 and above.

I recently used a FD 300/f4 (effective 375mm/f5.6 with adapter) for some shots in a time lapse short shot on a full frame EOS camera.

The sharpness was acceptable but I did have to snap up the contrast a little in grading.

 

 

.... of course with the release of recent EOS-R mirrorless camera, hang on to those sharp FD's and keep an eye out for the future Chinese adapters if you can't afford the Novoflex and MTF FD to EOS R versions.

There is another choice now. I have just finished my first conversion of a Canon 2x-B extender to fit a Canon EOS body with a APS-C sensor (with infinite focus) I will be doing the same for both the Canon 2x-A extender also for APS-C sensor and the Canon 1.4x-A extender but this will fit all EOS bodies including full frame.

There is another choice now. I have just finished my first conversion of a Canon 2x-B extender to fit a Canon EOS body with a APS-C sensor (with infinite focus) I will be doing the same for both the Canon 2x-A extender also for APS-C sensor and the Canon 1.4x-A extender but this will fit all EOS bodies including full frame. [ATTACH]1277815[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]1277816[/ATTACH]

 

Sounds a better solution than the cruder corrected adapters, but switching to mirrorless is much easier & doesn't change the FOV...

 

If you've done the FF 2xTC, is there any point in doing the 2x cropped version as well?

Sounds a better solution than the cruder corrected adapters, but switching to mirrorless is much easier & doesn't change the FOV...

 

If you've done the FF 2xTC, is there any point in doing the 2x cropped version as well?

 

The one I have made so far is 2x-B for cropped sensor`only, the one for FF will be 1.4x-A. There is not any mirrorless camera that can match the top of the line EOS cameras.

sorry, wrong thread

sorry, wrong thread

Why is this the wrong thread as I am talking about a FD to EOS adapter as per thread title.

I now have converted all of these Canon extenders to be a FD to EF adapters. This will allow me at long last to use all my Canon FD lenses on my EOS camera as they where meant to be used. With no inferior optics that other adapters have, I now can have Canon quality images